Description
Book SynopsisThis is a clear-eyed memoir of Peace Corps service in the rural Panamanian village of Tranquilla through the eyes of a young American woman trained as a community forester. In her memoir, Meredith Cornett transports readers to the remote village of Tranquilla, where dugout canoes are the mainstay of daily transportation, life and nature are permeated by witchcraft, and a restful night’s sleep may be disturbed by a raiding phalanx of army ants.
Trade Review“
Heart of Palms is a beautiful story brimming with hope - but hope that remains tantalizingly out of reach. . . . Expecting a fairy-tale assignment, meredith’s new world - at times wondrous and at times frightening - slowly unravels into complications as her myopia recedes and she begins to fully see the people, politics, and heartbeat of this little place. It would be easy to paper over these setbacks and focus on adventure and observations, but this is a book not about how we want the world to be but how it really is. Courageous and unapologetic,
Heart of Palms achieves its promise of hope in illuminating a simple but paradoxical truth: beautiful places are worth saving from people, but nothing can truly be saved without people.” - M. Sanjayan, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy and science and environmental contributor for
CBS News
